Around Town

New Canaan Baseball Proposes Long-Term Use of ‘Mead Park Brick Barn’

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After the idea first surfaced at last month’s Forum on Public Buildings, the nonprofit organization that runs youth baseball in New Canaan on Thursday formally proposed using a disused town-owned brick structure on Richmond Hill Road for storage and meetings. New Canaan Baseball officials in a May 10 letter to the selectmen and Town Council said the building known as the “Brick Barn” or “Richmond Hill Garage” would be more suitable for storage than a town-owned shed at Waveny and could offer more uses. “New Canaan Baseball would like to formally express our interest in the above property,” NCBB Co-Presidents Rob Moore and Brian Rogers said in the letter, obtained by NewCanaanite.com. “We need to fully understand the financial impact and commitment of inhabiting the space but we are willing to explore the next steps.”

“We recognize that the Barn needs repairs and upgrading, and have seen preliminary estimates,” the letter said. “The main room on the ground floor provides us some raw space we could use with some modifications.

Government

Girls’ Softball Fields To Get Same Dugout Canopies Enjoyed By New Canaan Baseball Players

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Parks officials have voiced unanimous support for a plan that will see the main girls’ softball field get the same canopies over players’ benches that already grace boys’ youth and varsity baseball fields at Mead Park and Saxe Middle School. New Canaan Baseball Softball Inc. will pay the approximately $15,000 cost to purchase the canopies and have them installed by a contractor, New Canaan Softball President Rob Moore told members of the Park & Recreation Commission at their Feb. 10 meeting. “When you are talking about June, July and August, you’ve got 90 degree heat,” Moore said at the meeting, held in the Douglas Room at Lapham Community Center. “When it’s raining, why shouldn’t we be able to give the girls the same shade and comfort from the elements that the boys get?”

The “Orchard Field” at Waveny—the first one on the right as cars climb the crest of the hill coming from the South Avenue side—is home to the New Canaan High School girls’ varsity softball team, as well as youth and travel teams in town.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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The conspicuous commercial space located at a corner of Elm Street and South Avenue, long occupied by Sallea Antiques, will not be vacant for long after that shop closes its doors in the coming weeks. Heather Gaudio Fine Art, for four years located a bit further down South Avenue, is set to move in as early as September. “We’re incredibly excited,” owner Heather Gaudio told NewCanaanite.com. “I think it’s an amazing space.” The longtime Sallea space offers Gaudio more operational space (for example, packaging), and more storage, including for wine to be used at a grand opening party that likely will come in October. Stay tuned.

News

‘I Think It’s Ridiculous’: New Canaan Girl, 10, Ousted from Softball Tournament Because She’s Too Young

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Softball officials ousted a New Canaan girl from a state Little League tournament Tuesday after it emerged that she was too young to qualify officially for 11- and 12-year-old division play. Hours after Carolina Welch, 10, helped lead the New Canaan 12-and-under All Stars to a 13-6 win at Waveny Park against rival Darien, the rising Saxe Middle School sixth-grader received the news that the game itself (where she pitched four dominant innings) would be forfeited as a loss, and that she would be ineligible for the rest of the tournament. “I’m upset because I’ve always played in the summer, so now I don’t get to play in the summer on a team,” Carolina (or ‘Lina,’ as she’s known) said Wednesday evening from the sidelines at Waveny’s Orchard Field, as her teammates battled Darien in this best-of-3 round. The girls had her uniform number 22 drawn in marker on one shoulder, and ‘X’ the Roman numeral for 10 (Lina’s age) on the other. The “Majors” division in which Carolina plays admits 10- to 12-year-old girls for regular season play, but for Little League-sanctioned state tournaments such as the one that started this week, according to the Williamsport, Pa.-based organization’s rules, only 11- and 12-year-old girls can play in this division.